0 an area of low, level ground covered in salt, especially one found along the coast of North Africa and Saudi Arabia:
Abu Dhabi's sabkhas are well worth preserving.
Sabkha is an Arabic word for a flat depression, usually close to water, and covered with salt crust.
The lower-rank cycles in the saline pan/sabkha deposits consist of alternating dark and lighter gypsum, consisting of microgranular gypsum grown within shales and vertically aligned gypsum crystals, respectively.
The climate variations lead to the very dynamic nature of a sabkha.
In drier parts of the sabkha the gypsum can be altered to anhydrite and the aragonite can be dolomitized diagenetically.
In the "khor-lagoon-sabkha" model, an initial rise in sea-level floods coastal areas and creates shallow water features.
Mature sabkhas are only flooded after heavy rainstorms and may eventually coalesce to form a sabkha coastal plain.
